Dawn's Loop

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Contributing Photographer: Michael Weinstein



We planned on making a variation of Dawn's Loop today. We left The Gateway at 9:00 AM and headed west towards Bent's Camp on the Cisco Chain of Lakes. The trail goes over 4 lakes in the chain, marked by orange barrels. We rode the lakes north to the Cisco Bar, then further north to Trail 2 in Michigan. We headed west on Trail 2 to to Trail 1, which we rode south to Presque Isle, WI.

We stopped for lunch at the Skyview Lodge in Presque Isle: http://www.skyviewlodge.com/ At this point, we had ridden a bit over 50 miles, and every mile was perfect riding. We couldn't believe how smooth the trails were considering that it is a Monday after the weekend riding.

After lunch and the welcome break we headed south/southeast to the town of Boulder Junction, where we fueled up the sleds. We then headed east toward Conover, a town about 8 miles south of Land O' Lakes. We crossed Lake Buckatabon to make our next stop at Bauer's Dam. http://www.bauersdam.com/ We had some fun there doing the "shake of the day." The shake of the day is something that all the bars in this part of the world do. You get 5 die in a cup and usually get 3 shakes to try to make 5 of a kind, although there are variations to the game. If you roll 5 of a kind, you split the pot that has been built up by people playing at $1-2 per turn. There are also prizes for less than 5 of a kind. I went first and rolled a full house and won a six pack of beer. Pat took the cup next and on his first shake, rolled 5 of a kind and won half the pot. Donna, the owner, pulled down the money jar and started counting. The suspense was killing us. It turned out that there was $172.00 in the pot, so Pat won $86.00. Not bad for a 2 buck investment.

After Bauer's Dam, we only had about a 10-12 mile ride back to Land O' Lakes. It was a wonderful day. Riding with Pat and Dawn is always a joy and I was happy that they came up and rode with us today and meet Michael. The riding, other than a somewhat bumpy stretch of 15 miles or so out of Boulder Junction was fantastic.

Tuesday, Michael and I head off for our three day saddlebag trip. We'll be riding about 170 miles north to Copper Harbor, MI. If the trails stay as good as they've been so far, it will be a great ride. It should be good because they have gotten a lot more snow up toward the Keweenaw Peninsula, where we're heading.

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Photos

And...We Have a Winner!
Pat won $86.00 in the shake of the day.

Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Good to see you blogging again
Looks very cold...but fun.

[Snowhawg]

Thanks.
I have introduced my friend to snowmobiling in the Wisconsin U.P. Michigan area. He's a very experienced rider who ride upsate New York and loves it here.

[michael]

truly a great ride
It was a really great ride. Glad to have been a part of it. Cant wait to come back next winter 2013-14